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Uncooled Infrared Photon Detection Concepts and Devices Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Physics and Astronomy Dissertations Department of Physics and Astronomy 3-23-2009 Uncooled Infrared Photon Detection Concepts and Devices Viraj Vishwakantha Jayaweera Piyankarage Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/phy_astr_diss Part of the Astrophysics and Astronomy Commons, and the Physics Commons Recommended Citation Piyankarage, Viraj Vishwakantha Jayaweera, "Uncooled Infrared Photon Detection Concepts and Devices." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2009. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/phy_astr_diss/30 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Physics and Astronomy at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Physics and Astronomy Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. UNCOOLED INFRARED PHOTON DETECTION CONCEPTS AND DEVICES by VIRAJ VISHWAKANTHA JAYAWEERA PIYANKARAGE Under the Direction of Unil Perera ABSTRACT This work describes infrared (IR) photon detector techniques based on novel semiconductor device concepts and detector designs. The aim of the investigation was to examine alternative IR detection concepts with a view to resolve some of the issues of existing IR detectors such as operating temperature and response range. Systems were fabricated to demonstrate the following IR detection concepts and determine detector parameters: (i) Near-infrared (NIR) detection based on dye-sensitization of nanostructured semiconductors, (ii) Displacement currents in semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) embedded dielectric media, (iii) Split-off band transitions in GaAs/AlGaAs heterojunction interfacial workfunction internal photoemission (HEIWIP) detectors. A far-infrared detector based on GaSb homojunction interfacial workfunction internal photoemission (HIWIP) structure is also discussed. Device concepts, detector structures, and experimental results discussed in the text are summarized below. Dye-sensitized (DS) detector structures consisting of n-TiO2/Dye/p-CuSCN heterostructures with several IR-sensitive dyes showed response peaks at 808, 812, 858, 866, 876, and 1056 nm at room temperature. The peak specific-detectivity (D*) was 9.5×1010 cm Hz-1/2 W-1 at 812 nm at room temperature. Radiation induced carrier generation alters the electronic polarizability of QDs provided the quenching of excitation is suppressed by separation of the QDs. A device constructed to illustrate this concept by embedding PbS QDs in paraffin wax showed a peak D* of 3×108 cm Hz1/2 W-1 at ~540 nm at ambient temperature. A typical HEIWIP/HIWIP detector structures consist of single (or multiple) period(s) of doped emitter(s) and undoped barrier(s) which are sandwiched between two highly doped contact layers. A p-GaAs/AlGaAs HEIWIP structure showed enhanced absorption in NIR range due to heavy/light-hole band to split-off band transitions and leading to the development of GaAs based uncooled sensors for IR detection in the 2-5 µm wavelength range with a peak D* of 6.8×105 cm Hz1/2 W-1. A HIWIP detector based on p-GaSb/GaSb showed a free carrier response threshold wavelength at 97 µm (~3 THz)with a peak D* of 5.7×1011 cm Hz1/2 W-1 at 36 µm and 4.9 K. In this detector, a bolometric type response in the 97 - 200 µm (3-1.5 THz) range was also observed. INDEX WORDS: Infrared detectors, Photon detection, NIR detectors, THz detectors, Uncooled detectors, Dye-sensitized, IR dye, Quantum dot, Split-off band, GaSb, GaAs, AlGaAs, TiO2, CuSCN, PbS, Homojunction, Heterojunction, Workfunction, Photoemission, Displacement currents, 1/f noise. UNCOOLED INFRARED PHOTON DETECTION CONCEPTS AND DEVICES by VIRAJ VISHWAKANTHA JAYAWEERA PIYANKARAGE A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2009 Copyright by Viraj Vishwakantha Jayaweera Piyankarage 2009 UNCOOLED INFRARED PHOTON DETECTION CONCEPTS AND DEVICES by VIRAJ VISHWAKANTHA JAYAWEERA PIYANKARAGE Major Professor: Unil Perera Committee: Vadym M. Apalkov Douglas Gies Xiaochun He Kirthi Tennakone Brian D. Thoms Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts and Science Georgia State University May 2009 DEDICATION To my parents and teachers iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest sense of gratitude to my supervisor Prof. Unil Perera for his patient guidance, encouragement and excellent advice throughout this study. His constant enthusiasm, support, and invaluable suggestions made this work successful. He has been everything that one could want in an advisor. Next, I am grateful to my co-supervisor, Prof. Kirthi Tennakone, who introduced me to the research field and has been abundantly helpful and offered invaluable assistance, support, and guidance. Deepest gratitude is also due to the members of the supervisory committee: Dr. Vadym M. Apalkov, Dr. Douglas Gies, Dr. Xiaochun He, and Dr. Brian D. Thoms for fruitful discussions, technical assistance, and effort in reading and providing me with valuable comments on this dissertation. I would like to convey special acknowledgement to Dr. Steven Matsik, who was always open for questions and discussions relating theoretical work and his valuable scientific advice. Special thanks to post doctoral associate Dr. Gamini Ariayawansa, former members Dr. Mohamed Rinzan, and Dr. Aruna Weerasekara for valuable discussions on the subject matters. I would also like to thank present colleagues in the group: Ranga Jayasinghe, Dulipa Pitigala, Laura Byrum, Greggory Rothmeier, Jiafeng Shao, and Dr. Manmohan Singh. I wish to thank all the individuals of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, especially the Physics workshop team headed by Mr. Charles Hopper who converted my mechanical drawings into physical reality, and friends for their contribution, friendship, love, and helps. Finally, I take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude to my beloved parents, parent in law, and my wife for their moral support and patience during my study at GSU. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v LIST OF TABLES ix LIST OF FIGURES x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xvi Chapter 1 Introduction .....................................................................................................................................1 Chapter 2 Dye-sensitized near-infrared room-temperature photovoltaic photon detectors and 1/f noise in semiconductor nanostructures...........................................................................................8 2.1 DS photon detectors............................................................................................................8 2.1.1 DS IR detector fabrication ........................................................................................9 2.1.2 Experimental results and discussion.......................................................................11 2.1.3 Conclusion and future possibilities.........................................................................15 2.2 1/f noise in DS photon detectors and photovoltaic cells .................................................19 2.2.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................19 2.2.2 Frequency dependent noise.....................................................................................20 2.2.3 Sample preparation and experimental setup for noise measurements ...................21 2.2.4 Results and discussion.............................................................................................23 2.2.5 Conclusion...............................................................................................................28 Chapter 3 Displacement currents in colloidal quantum dots embedded dielectric media: A method for room temperature photon detection........................................................................................29 3.1 Introduction.......................................................................................................................29 3.2 PbS colloidal quantum dot (CQD) preparation and detector fabrication........................30 3.3 Detection mechanism, results, and discussion.................................................................31 3.4 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................37 Chapter 4 Split-off transition based uncooled infrared detectors for 3-5 µm and beyond...........................39 4.1 Introduction.......................................................................................................................39 4.2 Heterojunction Interfacial Workfunction Internal Photoemission (HEIWIP) detectors............................................................................................................................41 4.3 Split-off band detector mechanism ..................................................................................43 vi 4.4 Split-off response of HEIWIP detectors designed for MIR ............................................45 4.5 Uncooled split-off detector design and experimental results ..........................................49 4.6 Long wavelength (MIR and FIR) response observed in the split-off detectors .............56 4.7 Future Work......................................................................................................................61
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